BORG-ification of eBay?

[Bolster]

Is eBay going the way of the Big Ol' Retail Giants? Well that might be overstatement, but they ARE re-engineering eBay so it favors larger merchants of remaindered and off-season and refurbished items who sell at fixed prices. Consequently eBay is disadvantaging the traditional "unique item" auction.

Here are some quotes from today's WSJ: "[eBay] is shifting the site's emphasis away from auctions and toward fixed-price listings. The moves have divided sellers, some of whom complain that big merchants now have an edge. Some longtime sellers, including those with unusual inventory that draws people to the site, are giving up on eBay and moving their business elsewhere...[eBay] wanted to emphasize fixed-price items (including out-of-season and over-stock items), not just auctions, believed to be too cumbersome for some shoppers..."

I guess we can expect more full sets of factory seconds, and fewer single pieces to fill the holes in our existing lineups? Bad news for people like me who fancy vintage tools?

If YOU have left eBay, where did you go? Where are you buying and selling, if not eBay?

 

[nate379]

Normal stores usually. If I can't find something local, Amazon isn't too bad.

 

[Major Ramifications]

I still wouldn't know where else to go to sell a lot of stuff. Craigslist is OK for some things, but not for rare car parts or anything collectible. The local audience is just too small to guarantee a sale at a decent price.
Since Ebay stopped selling guns, I have been enjoying gunbroker.com, but most of the stuff I sell is automotive related.

 

[Packard V8]

Yes, eBay made a conscious business decision to move away from being the world's largest flea market and to become more like Amazon. They want fewer, larger, more professional re-sellers of new, remaindered and discontinued items.

thnx, jack vines

 

[81Seca]

To me, the best part about eBay is being able to find older, discontinued items...and usually at a great price. That USED to be what eBay was all about. Then they got a little too politically correct and stopped cigars, certain reloading equipment, and other items. Seems pretty hypocritical that you cant sell/buy tobacco, but you CAN still buy/sell liquor (wine). Then the rates went up, and up. And they screwed the sellers (the people they make their $ from) by shifting almost all the "protection" to the buyers. A seller cant even leave neg feedback on a deadbeat bidder! And now the little guys who sold all the nice, older, discontinued items are disappearing...and being replaced by liquidators and store outlets who sell **** other people returned.

 

[Stuey]

These days more and more little guys are turning towards forums for buying and selling 2nd hand products.

 

[Bolster]

Yes, eBay made a conscious business decision to move away from being the world's largest flea market and to become more like Amazon. They want fewer, larger, more professional re-sellers of new, remaindered and discontinued items.

Well...****. There are already so many sources of remaindered, discontinued, refurbished, unwanted, and semi-broken items, I'm surprised eBay wants to compete in that crowded marketplace.

I'd rather buy tools one at a time from non-professional sellers, than from a "we couldn't sell it to people who could examine it, so we're selling it here where you can't" set of tools from a big time dealer who has a million more in his scratch-and-dent pile to sell. Perhaps I am in the minority.

 

[Brad54]

I needed to cover some bills, and just sold a bunch of stuff on ebay for the first time in a few years. What a ******** deal... Mandatory Pay-Pal, automatic shipping calculator that generated a price that wasn't even close for several items, and then I have to pay a listing fee, a Pay-Pal fee, a fee to cut me a check for Pay-Pal, and then they only let me take out $500 in a 30 day period, so I need to wait three months to get my money?!

That's the last time I'll sell on there, ever. And unless it's a really unique part, I won't buy on it either.

Swap meets for my automotive parts from here on out.

-Brad